Blood Runs Cold
by NanoBlade
Summary: Five years have passed since the First Snow. Since then the sun and warmth seem to have faded from existence. The people that remain have decended into murderers, and thieves only focused on their own survival. Among them is an assassin named Asgeir, with a deadly secret, and a mission: to kill the Ice Queen once and for all. Evil AU, OC. Rated T for language, blood and sub matter.
1. Chapter 1: Survival-Death

Chapter 1: Survival/Death

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><p><em>Master Asgeir Swortssen<em>

_We write to you with heavy hearts, and regret as that you must receive the news by this message._

_Valarton was overrun last night. Several of our brave brothers and sisters lost their lives while trying to mount a defense against the creatures. Ironic, considering we were saving lives as opposed to taking them. Rest assured their deaths will not be in vain._

_Now come your new targets. They are assassins of a faraway land sent to kill someone important, and they will not be missed by any in this world. End them, and take the document with their own target's name. Then kill their own target. While the mission your targets have been sent on is a mission failed by many, you are one of the order's most skilled warriors. You cannot, and will not fail us._

_Blodet Renner Kaldt_

_The Council of Voices_

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><p>My last victims lay down at my feet in a mangled mess. One fool had desperately tried to hold his arm in place after I cut it clean off, and another had a massive hole where his throat was. Both were shining red with blood, drenched all over with steam rushing off them in the snow.<p>

I pulled my mask off my mouth, and knelt down, checking the body for the assassination orders. The Council of Voices had let me know that their benefactors didn't care who would spill the blood of their target, as long as it happened.

At last I found the document. I was partly expecting such an important mission to have such an important client. I checked the body for a sealed envelope, but couldn't find one. After checking another body, I found that these assassins were paid up front entirely, and that the clients were hundreds of peasants throughout the realm. They had pooled together as much money as they could, and it all amounted to a decent dinner, and maybe passage out of the realm. Maybe south to someplace warm. I took the money with me.

At last I found the document with the name of the target. It was a small piece of parchment folded in half.

"So what kind of target demands so many clients and such big a coin?" I said to myself, though I dreaded the answer that I read.

I opened the letter. It had only four words: Elsa, Queen of Winter.

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><p>Heading north was hard. The winter winds licked at my face, threatening to kill me in one swift movement, but I carried on. It was like a stroke of impossible luck when I found an inn. They were almost extinct since the winter robbed us of the resources needed for one to work.<p>

I went inside. A few people were in, but many were trying to keep warm by either the one candle, or the small fire going.

"Can't you throw another log on this fire?!" Cried one of the men. "I'm freezing my arse off!"

I scoffed as I sat at the bar, not looking at the man. "Use your brain, fellow. That fire's only going to give you minimal warmth. We all know that."

The man looked at me, walking up to the bar. I could just feel his eyes staring at me without needing to look at him myself. "And who are you to say that, boy? You can't be, what, 28?"

"So? I've lived these past five years like everyone else."

"Ever had to survive on your own before this damn winter? Do you know what it's like out there? To be hunted by wolves and snow monsters, worried that you'll never see the light of day ever again?"

I looked down at the bar table. Someone played a game of tic tac toe with their knife on the table. Another had drawn a happy face. Smiles were extinct as much as dragons.

"I had to survive on my own long before the Days of Warmth. What did you do?" I kept staring at the smiley face, it's blank dots for eyes staring back.

"I served a noble family." Said the man. "But they all met the same fate that most did out there: they froze to death. What of you, boy?"

"Scavenging. I grew up with only an adoptive family, and they taught me to survive before letting me go my own way."

"Orphan?"

"Worse." I replied, carelessly taking my glove off to show my burn mark. A long diagonal slash across the back of my right hand. "Bastard."

"So? You never knew your family?"

"No, I knew plenty of my family. Especially my mother's husband."

"Oh ho! Most would think it was the father who was unfaithful, but not you! Who was she? Your mother?"

I shook my head, still looking at the face in the wood. It was once a nice cherry wood, but chipped and slashed far beyond repair. "I don't tell anyone that. Especially those I just met!" I said.

The man backed away. Three steps, I heard. "Alright." Then he said to the barkeep. "Two ales. Warm as you can."

As the barkeep gave them to us, he asked me more questions as he sat beside me. I just kept staring at the face, not touching the ale. Frost covered the glass. "Forget who she was, your mother, for I won't ask. But what about her husband?"

"He was a true fool. Let his fears get the better of him at every turn. I was almost raised as his trueborn, but I'm glad he found out that I was a bastard."

"Why?"

"I'm now believed to be dead by most who have heard my name. And I would never change what fate awaited him."

The man took a long swig of ale. This conversation would end only one way, but he didn't know it entirely yet.

"What did you do before all this? This Eternal Winter?"

"The same I've done before the winter: find food, water, shelter, and above all else, survive."

"That must be harder than ever now, since we all have to face the blizzard every day."

I looked at him with fury. "That's no blizzard." I said. "And you know it."

The man laughed. "So this fool of an almost-father. What happened to him? Did he freeze out there like everyone else?"

"Oh, god no." I said. "I watched him from afar as I was trained in the same art that my true father was taught in, and then when the time was right, I killed him."

The man stood up slowly, looking at how I had my hand in my cloak. He suddenly saw the fate that awaited him in less than thirty seconds. "Okay...take it easy, friend. I won't hurt you."

"No, you see it's too late for that. You asked the wrong questions to the wrong man. Now you have to die."

He did. No words were able to escape his throat before I slid one of my daggers across it. His blood poured out like anyone who met my steel before: rushing fast down his reddening shirt in bright crimson. Some of it splattered out quick onto the bar, drowning the smiley face in blood.

I grabbed my bow, and in quick succession, shot all the remaining men in the room. The barkeep as well. No one can know my real story and live, no matter how much I tell them of it.

I walked around the bar table, and pulled the arrow out of the barkeep's chest, then grabbed a bottle of ale. It may sound insane to think that pint the man bought me was poisoned, but I could never be too careful. I bit the cork, yanked it out, and took a swig. Then I went back around, pulling the arrows out of my victims. Ammunition had become almost as rare as diamonds. With the winter freezing the branches and making them too weak, and resources like steel and feathers running dangerously low, it became regular procedure for all of us to take our arrows back from our victims.

One of the men I still hadn't killed entirely. He was straining just to breathe.

"Why did you kill me?" He said, crying under his breath. "All I wanted out of this live was to make something of myself, but then the world had to freeze and show it's true colors to us all."

I kneeled down, and looked him right in the eye. "I'm not a looter. I had to grow up as a thief to survive, but I will not steal from this inn. I only killed you because anyone who would know who I am would do whatever it took to kill me."

The man laughed with his dying breathes. "The world has gone to shit. We wake up wondering if this will be our last day in this world, having to worry about freezing to death, or bandits, and I die from a paranoid traveler. Why couldn't this blizzard take me?" He nodded down as the life left his eyes, the air rushing out of his mouth.

I ran my hand down his face, closing his eyes. I grabbed my stuff, and into the store room. There was plenty of food in there, and I would take some. Despite my promise to the man, this world was one where only liars, thieves and scoundrels would live. All the rest would freeze or be killed by bandits.

But the food wasn't why I was in there. Store rooms of inns throughout the realm were more insulated than any other room in the inn for obvious reasons. I opened my bag, grabbing the book to look back one last time before I set off for my death.

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><p>Ninety-two percent. That was how many people of the realm's population died in the past five years. This world has gone from it's fair civilization throughout the kingdoms into one freezing hell. The nobles and royals are all but dead. Most of the dead left this life in the cold, if the bandits and thieves didn't kill them first. I still did what I had done since I was a kid to survive: spill blood of others for money. I was born of the Voices of the Blade. We were the most feared assassins in all the realm, and no one alive had ever heard of us. Anyone who ever did wouldn't have the chance to tell people. My father, my real father was the leader of the Voices for the latter part of his life. He left me behind the heritage which I truly belonged to when I was found by my brethren. My mother indeed had me as a bastard, and it wasn't until her husband discovered that I wasn't his son that he did what anyone of his royal status in the kingdoms would: he took me from my mother, branded me with the Bastard's Mark on my right hand, and then left me in the woods to die. Those who expected me to come out of my mother's womb were told that I was stillborn, and ever since then my mother was kept a close eye on by her husband.<p>

My brothers knew the truth about me: that I was not of pure born, but was abandoned by my would-be alleged father. They found me, and took me in as one of their own. When I was four, they began training me to master the blade and truly see what it meant to wield it. I killed my first man at nine, forged my own blade at twelve, and at fourteen, concocted my own unique poison to act as my rite of passage into the Inner Circle of the Voices. I had now reached the age of 28, and ranked high among the brotherhood. We keep no tabs, but I could count how many lives I took from this world: five-hundred and forty-nine, one-hundred and seven after the beginning of the winter. Now I had one more target: Elsa. I wasn't the first to try, but I would be the last. She killed hundreds of people like me, including thirty four of my own brothers.

I doubted I could make it home alive, but I knew one thing: out of my mind, out of options, and on a one way trip into the heart of the storm with only one one thought in mind: I. Would. Kill. Her.

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><p>King Agdar of Arendelle, Elsa's father, wrote a journal which he kept hidden away from everyone. My brothers in the Voices and I found this when we recovered the treasures from the wreckage of the ship which he and Queen Idun died in. I kept it, as no one else could see the potential value it held. I felt it could contain secrets about Arendelle's military, had it's own secrets to show, and could prove to be worth much coin. The entries I found were not helpful up until this point...<p>

_Winter, 28 years ago. Entry #753_

_The winters grow colder here every year. I find that with each passing year, the cold seems to put pressure on my ability to rule. My wife Idun is expecting our firstborn to come in a month or so. She suspects a boy, but I think a girl would be a better heir for me. Tradition in Arendelle follows that the oldest, boy or girl, will be the current monarch's heir. Not very traditional, but then again, neither is Arendelle's history. A queen would be a change, as we have had four generations of kings in a row, myself included. Idun seems to be taking this expectation for our daughter very nervously. She stirs in the middle of the night, muttering and shivering. She wakes up, ice cold and tears in her eyes. Every night I tell her that everything will be perfect for our daughter, and nothing will go wrong. She will rule Arendelle with compassion and justice._


	2. Chapter 2: Angels-Demons

Chapter 2: Angels/Demons

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><p>The night was cruel. Even huddling in the storeroom, I still found myself enduring the cold with difficulty. I kept looking at the parchment, reading those four words over and over again. My brothers expected me to kill the White Haired Harpy? Her own sister couldn't stop her with kind words. She paid the price for trying to reason with her. But I had no choice. I had my vows. A Voice of the Blade, once given a target, would kill them. No exceptions.<p>

I took stock of my weapons before leaving. Two blades made of the highest quality Coronian steel forged by my own hands were sheathed to my back, along with my bow and quiver, which carried twenty-four arrows. A couple of them looked close to breaking.

My bracers were another useful set of weapons. My usual last resort if caught, and also good for a quick exit.

Finally lay in my satchel was my coeur de coeur: a big flask of Cryoquinine, the poison made by my own hands, like all of my weapons. It abilities cause the victim to freeze to death slowly and painfully. They could be wearing seven layers of the thickest black fabrics, underneath a desert sun in the hottest summer at high noon, and they would still drop dead with frost in their veins. But that desert doesn't exist anymore, nor does summer. I still was inspired to use it when the Eternal Winter hit. Many people have blamed deaths by my own hand for people wandering into the woods when the storm was at it's hardest, or falling into sub-zero rivers. It made my job of staying hidden that much easier.

Before heading out, I took what I needed from the storeroom. Just as I was about to leave, I spotted a way to cover my tracks: a large bottle of fine whiskey.

I splashed the caramel colored water all over the inn's interior, then took a match and lit it. The entire room lit up in flames as I stepped out into the storm.

It was snowing hard that night. One of those times, I guess. It was colder than a stone in a frozen river. I pulled my hood up over my face, peering over my mask covering my mouth. The weakening support beams of the inn were already starting to collapse under the weight of the inn's burning roof, and I trudged on.

I never dared take the roads. Assassins like me do whatever we can to stay hidden, and to me that meant killing anyone who had even the slightest chance of finding out who I was. The snow was deeper in the trees, but it was still my best chance.

Arendelle was another good twenty leagues away. A week's journey on foot, if not more. A horse would do me good, if I saw any travelers. Horses were one necessity that no one could afford anymore. That inn back there was a stroke of luck to still be running, but it was unfortunate that it had to burn down.

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><p>There was once a plan set by the royal families of the kingdoms. They said that if something catastrophic were to happen to the realm, they had plans that would protect us from harm. They also set emergency laws to follow. Many of which were laws to encourage unity and alliances to ensure our survival. I broke at least five of these laws every day. The average survivor broke a good two per week, but I was worse.<p>

The royals weren't prepared for something like this. When the snow started falling, they dismissed it saying that it would warm back up within two weeks. By the second month, anarchy started to leak in to replace the structured society we once lived in. Soon it didn't matter if you were a peasant or a princess. It didn't matter if you were a boy or a girl, young or old, or anything else. What did matter was that you were either living or you weren't. That's how it worked now.

I couldn't see it that way. This was judgement on the royal families for caring more about their heirs, dresses, and balls than their people. Almost all of them were wiped out. I heard of a few surviving royals, but they at least knew how to fight and live off the land.

I kept trudging through the snow. The heavily insulated boots I had strapped to my feet weren't helping much. I looked down, hoping that focusing on my feet might make them warm up. But we all know what happens when we aren't looking where we're going. We run into things.

"H-h-h-help..."

I looked up suddenly at the sight before me.

A man in a grey winter cloak was before me, kneeling in the snow with his arms wrapped around his body trying desperately to get warm. His face was badly frost bitten, and he was shaking harder than a fish out of water.

"P-p-please.." He said. "H-h-help..."

_Law #12: United we stand, divided we fall._

I wasted no time. As fast as I could, I laid down a couple twigs from my pack, and lit up a quick fire. Then I built it up with some of the whiskey I had taken from the inn along with some nearby logs I found.

The light from the fire let me see the man better. He had auburn hair and sideburns. He had a sheath for a sword, but it looked like it had been days since he had it in there. It was nowhere to be found.

"My group left me behind a week ago." He said, still shivering a bit less. "That's how people think now. You make a few mistakes, and you aren't fit to survive with them."

"No one is fit to survive in a group." I replied. "I realized all the way from the First Snow that I got to look out for only myself. No one is going help me, so why should I try to turn to them for help? My sole priority is my own survival. Not the survival of others."

"You speak true words, friend. Although my group said that we all looked out for each other. Then they abandoned me."

I glanced at him. "Or you didn't look out for them, so they didn't look out for you."

He shook his head. "They knew I paid them to stay at my side."

I gestured. "Look around, friend. What is there that money is going to buy? Ice? Snow? Frost? That's all that we have, and it's all free! Get a freaking clue!"

"So? I had everything they could have wanted, and they still turned on me. They thought leaving me to freeze would be a better fate than a blade to the throat."

"A blade to the throat is better than freezing to death. But that's not the only reason they left you." I said.

The man scowled, and nodded. "They were afraid. All because of that evil witch Queen Elsa."

Another enemy of hers. Survivors wanted to hurt her just as she hurt them.

"She took my home. She took my family. And worst of all, she took my fiancé from me!"

I looked back at him. I had heard of someone like this before. I had a hunch who he was. Only one way to be certain. "What is your name?" I said.

"Prince Hans. Why do you a-"

He barely finished his sentence before I shoved my blade right through his heart. His blood splashed out so much so quickly, it doused the fire.

He coughed up blood and lay down in the snow, gasping for air. He looked up at me in disbelief and fear.

"What?! Why did you do this?!"

"You let this happen." I said. "It's no mystery why you went to Arendelle in the first place. It's your fault this happened. Your choices unleashed Elsa's fury on us. Don't deny that."

"I don't understand-"

"Cut the bullshit!" I snapped. "As an assassin, I am also required to know certain information. I knew all along why you went to Arendelle five years ago. I knew your methods, I knew your tricks, and I knew what you planned to do to the princess. But the only thing, the one thing I could never know was what you looked like. You were safe until you gave me your name. Now you share the fate I laid on every other wretched noble before you."

Hans looked at me, clutching his chest. The blood was still gushing out his front. "Damn you to hell. I hope you rot in hell for what you did to me."

"Hell would be what we all deserve after this. At least it's warm."

Hans lay backwards, still holding his chest. I kneeled down beside him.

"'From above, the wicked receive their just reward'. Blodet Renner Kaldt."

I turned, walking from the smoking fire pit, the blood flooding the cracks in the frozen wood.

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><p><em>Entry #755<em>

_The nights are getting darker and colder. Every night it's the same nightmare. A child drenched with blood carving marks through a block of ice. Does this mean something? What could it mean?_

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><p>I looked up in the trees, hoping to see an owl, but with no luck. The worst part of this winter was the wildlife. By that I mean that there wasn't any. When the winter froze the entire realm, the birds, stags, and every animal I could kill for money and meat moved on. Like most things about this life, I wasn't sure if they were hibernating, or moved as far south as possible. Everyone was moving south. I was the only one moving north into the heart of this madness. I wasn't sure if killing Queen Elsa would bring back summer, or make the winter worse, but I knew I had to do it. Plus, there was no way this winter could get much worse if it could.<p>

As I looked further through the trees, still hoping for birds, I saw a large column of smoke. Black smoke, which meant it was still burning. I stood there, looking up at the black smoke. It stood among the other black columns like a ghost among the living. Slowly, I headed towards it, knowing it couldn't be more than a mile away.

The tactical approach, no matter what the situation, is always the best approach, so I drew my ice picks, and scaled up into the trees. Then I weaved in and out through the branches with the ground a far distance below.

The smoke was close enough to me that I was just above the campsite. I looked down at the masked figure down there. He was wearing the mask obviously to protect his face, unlike most others who wore them to scare off the people they would be raiding. So he wasn't a bandit. I couldn't say the same for the two people in front of him.

"-easy! I don't want any trouble!" Said the masked man, his hands held up in front of him. A large dark shape beside him sniffed and snorted loudly. One I could barely see through the mist, which had sunk in as I was approaching the camp.

"So do we!" Said one of the bandits approaching him slowly. He and his partner both had their crossbows aimed at him. Their masks were blood red, hoping to make the one man fear them. "You just give us all your food, and we'll be on our way!"

The masked man reached for his belt for what looked like an ice pick. I knew his intentions, but I also knew he didn't stand a chance. Quick as a thought, I whipped out my bow, and loosed two arrows into one of the bandits. I shot the one furthest from the first man, because his partner had his back turned to him. The second guy barely had a chance to notice his dead partner before meeting the same fate.

The man looked up into the trees. "Hello?" He paused. "If your going to take everything I have, just do it! I don't even know why I'm still living in this world."

I looked down cautiously. There was no way he could see me, so I used that to my advantage. "You have food?" I called down.

He looked up into the trees, but in the wrong direction, away from myself. "Yes, but it's only carrots. I had to fight a thief for them."

"Yeah, that's what we live in now. How can I trust you? I may have killed your buddies down there, and you're going to avenge them the second I appear. It might just all be a ruse where you knew I was coming, and it's an ambush for me."

"You're paranoid, friend." Said the man. "Rightfully so, considering the life that has forsaken us. But you have nothing to worry about. What say we're just ships passing in the night?"

He had a point. But there was something else about him that I could sense about him. I stabbed the trunk of the tree with my rope dart, making a quick rappel, then slid down the tree into his campsite.

"What the hell. Ships." I said, reaching out for his hand.

"Agreed, friend. I'm Kristoff."

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><p><em>Entry #756 (The Baby's birthday)<em>

_It appears that Arendelle has a new heir in the form of a future king. While I am a bit disappointed, a son will carry on my legacy as good as a daughter. Idun is in the nursery with him, showing him his room for the first time. She's calling me now, and the guards are leaving the nursery. She has called for a private conversation._


	3. Chapter 3: Hate-Love

**A/N: Hope that you are enjoying this. I appreciate any thoughts or comments, so don't forget to leave a review. I also know that this is a short update, but I will be updating quite soon.**

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><p>Chapter 3: HateLove

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><p>Kristoff introduced me to his reindeer Sven, and I sat down across from him at the fire. This one was strange, as I felt warm beside this one. Warmth suddenly felt like a feeling not of this world.<p>

"And what is your name, friend?"

"Asgeir." I replied. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"I have you to thank. You saved my life from those bandits. Most would back down and walk away out of fear. You don't seem to be the type to walk away if you have weapons like that."

"Not at all." I said. "This is the life where we must fight each other just to see the light of day again."

"Under the circumstances, that isn't the right expression, Asgeir." Kristoff said. "None of us have truly seen the sun for four years."

The winter was strange in it's first year. It was snowy and sunny half the time, and it never seemed to make up it's mind. Now it had been over four years since the sun was seen again. We could only barely see the light of day each morning, but never could we ever feel the warmth of the sphere of light in the sky. Not anymore.

"Fair enough." I said. "You get the point. Yet, you aren't trying to kill me now."

Kristoff shook his head. "My family taught me that survival is only possible with unity and family. The two things one can't live without."

I nodded. "Wise people, this family of yours. But wrong just the same. I never knew my father, and my mother I only saw once from a distance."

Kristoff glanced at me. "Orphan?"

I pulled my glove off to show him my brand. "Bastard."

Kristoff looked at the brand. "Bastards are seen a lot in this world, but that mark is only handed out to bastards of nobles. Who are you?"

I put my glove back on. Something seemed different about Kristoff. Five seconds ago I was going to kick him into the fire, then take his reindeer's head. But something about him told me that killing him would retain bigger consequences than before.

"Tell me your story, and I'll tell you mine." I said. "I can see something in your eyes. You don't want to live in this world any more than the rest of us, yet something is driving you to keep going. Something that keeps you from sliding your pick through your neck"

Kristoff sighed. Sven looked at him with encouragement, like he knew I should know what he was hiding.

"This winter killed me. At least on the inside. I was there in Arendelle when the First Snow hit. I sold ice back in the day, but even I found it shocking to find snow in the middle of July."

"Sure." I said. "We all did."

"When I stopped at a trading post for supplies, I found this young woman searching for her sister. She said that she knew how this winter started. It was her sister, Elsa's fault. Her name was Anna. She explained that she got engaged to a man, but her sister would not bless the marriage, then threw a rage and froze the entire room with a swift wave of her hand. She ran out of the castle, and into the mountains, freezing the summer behind her. She was some kind of ice sorceress or something. Anna asked that I take her up the North Mountain to find Elsa, hoping that she would come back home."

At this point, tears were forming around Kristoff's eyes. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have took her there."

I looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"I took Anna to the castle that I had seen on the mountain. It was a massive fortress with no doors. When we finally got inside, Anna found Elsa sitting on a throne of ice. She had changed her look as well, her dress made of ice and her skin paler than any live human. Anna begged Elsa to thaw the winter, but Elsa refused, and even asked Anna to stand beside her as her equal as two queens of winter. When Anna refused to side with her, Elsa screamed and lashed out at Anna, freezing her heart. I barely got away, but for all I know, Anna is dead. It's all my fault."

I bowed my head solemnly. "Did you love her?" I asked.

Kristoff nodded. "I was almost certain of it, but I was hoping that things would be simpler than her sister lashing out at her in anger. I could have done something to save her."

"No." I replied. "Nothing has escaped the wrath of Queen Elsa ever since the beginning of the winter. If she is dead, it was because of her cruel sister. It wasn't your choice to flee."

Kristoff nodded, tears streaming down his face. "I told you my story. Why are you here?"

"I'm going to kill Queen Elsa."

Kristoff looked like I had just punched him in the face. "You're mad." He said. "She lives in a fortress on the mountain. You'd barely get to the town before you'd freeze, let alone the mountain. You're completely mad!"

"Damn right I am. I'm mad how my real chance at making a life for myself was stolen by my mother's husband, and how I've spent these last few years killing other survivors of this winter instead of trying to help them like I should really be doing. I don't expect to leave Arendelle alive." I looked out into the night. "In fact, I mean not to."

Kristoff shook his head over and over as I talked. "There's no way you could make it to the castle town, let alone to her ice fortress in the mountain. It would take hundreds of pyromancers just to walk through the blizzard surrounding the entire kingdom."

I stood up. "That's no blizzard." I scowled with fury at the winter storm blowing harder than ever before, anticipating my revelation: "That's my sister."

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><p><em>Entry #757<em>

_He is no son of mine. All this time Idun had led me to believe that her child was mine as well. Instead she confessed to me today that her child is the son of the most feared assassin in all the realm. He pitied her after seeing who she was, and instead of killing her, he left her with the boy in her womb. And she let him do it! She confessed that as well that she was not forced into it. She let him do it._

_That boy is a bastard. One that doesn't share my blood, and instead has the blood of a monster. He cannot become Arendelle's new king. Who knows what he will do that his real father hasn't? A sweet and innocent toddler suddenly impales Kai or Gerda's eyes with his fork. I shall take care of him myself._

_I would leave him a quick death upon my blade, but his father ended my brother's so long ago by tying him to a tree in the frozen woods and leaving him to die. I shall brand the boy with the Bastard's Mark, and leave him to the same fate in this dark winter. Then I will consider myself even with Daniel Swortssen._

_As for the servants, they know their roles to play in this. Only seven servants saw Asgeir born, and they have their orders. They will forget Asgeir ever existed, and encourage the lie that we will be telling the kingdom's people: stillborn. Any children that succeed myself and Idun will never know that Asgeir was born as well. I've also ordered that Idun have eyes on her at all times from now on. She cannot let this happen again._

_Finally, I will order for the head of Daniel Swortssen, and I will have it. He and his brotherhood of master assassins will die._


	4. Chapter 4:Brother-Assassin

**A/N: I'm uploading all the remaining chapters at once not only because I just finished, but because I have something new with this idea that I am posting real soon. Check it out. Also, the song "Iron" by Woodkid serves as a sort of inspiration for this fic. A good song for bgm.**

Chapter 4: Brother/Assassin

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><p>"Sister?!" Said Kristoff. "Anna said her only sibling was Elsa. She never once said that she had a brother."<p>

"Well, half-brother I should say." I said. "But Anna knew nothing of my existence. Same as Elsa. All because of their fool of a father."

Kristoff poked at the dying fire, trying to comprehend what he was hearing.

I pulled out the book. "This is the journal of King Agdar. In it, he mentioned that he and his wife would be having an heir, yet the date is marked three years before Elsa was born."

"Alright, sure." Said Kristoff. "Let's say you are Anna's long lost brother. The mark on your hand says that you weren't born to the King. You are a bastard."

"My mother, the queen was the target of my real father during an attack on a village she was staying in during a diplomatic meeting. He was an assassin sent to kill her. But he took pity on her instead, and left her with me in her womb. She played it off to her husband as if I was his, but the day I was born, she couldn't keep it secret any longer. I looked more like my father than him, and it would be only a matter of time before Agdar would see it. He personally carried me out to the woods, burned my hand with the Bastard's Mark, and left me to die. He also ordered anyone who saw me breathing to act as though I was stillborn, and continued with their lives. Ever since then, the fool kept a close eye on my mother, never letting her leave his sight. He didn't trust her for years, and then they had Elsa together."

"What about you? How did you survive?"

"My father, Daniel Swortssen was the kingdom's most feared assassin in over a hundred years. He had watched me in my early childhood in his final years, and before he died at the hands of Agdar's soldiers, he left his most trusted allies with the task of finding me, and taking me in as one of their own."

"I don't understand why you would want to kill Elsa because of this. Unless if you are doing this as a regular hit."

"Agdar wrote much more about me in his journal after he left me to die. He tried to excuse his actions of leaving me to die with his fears. He had nightmares for months of a baby covered in blood carving through ice with a sword. He was never positive that what he did was the right choice, and kept trying to justify his actions. He feared that I would grow up to be a mirror image of my real father. Father's story is that he killed his first man at 5, and the ocean of blood only got deeper from there. Agdar said in his journal that he couldn't take the risk of raising me with the thought that I might kill a servant or a guard when I was a boy. Then when he saw the real danger his daughter was, he hid her instead of abandoning her like he did for me. He abandoned me because of a potential danger I posed, but he kept the one he should really have been afraid of."

Kristoff shook his head. "This isn't right. Why should I let you go to kill her?"

"I am a Voice of the Blade." I said. "We always kill our targets. Even if it means sabotaging their own ship's foundation, and force it to sink the second they hit a wave in the wrong direction. That's right..." I looked at Kristoff with certainty. "I made Elsa's life miserable by taking away two of the few people that she loved. Her own existence is a constant reminder that I was seen as the monster by her father when the real monster was herself. Now I ask you Kristoff: will you take me to Arendelle, or will I have to head off myself?"

Kristoff looked down into the fire with confusion. "Anna. She was your half-sister. Did you ever know her?"

I smiled. "Anna is a different story that Elsa. Anna was always gentle and kind to everyone she knew. How could I hate her? My only regret is that she faced the over protection of her parents, and it cost her her life. I know I would've loved her as a brother should I ever had met her."

"Don't kill Elsa out of revenge for Anna. I know that it's not what she would want."

"Indeed." I replied. "But Elsa must die. I have been given a target by my brothers, and I know the vows I took when I was initiated. If anything, this is ending my own miserable existence of having to survive on my own while she was living the life I almost had. She lost the right to that life when she struck Anna."

Kristoff looked at me. "Anna would want the suffering of this realm to end. If what you are about to do will do it, I'll take you as close to Arendelle as I can."

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><p>When initiation is completed, these are the vows we take:<p>

"_My hood is raised, and my blade speaks. Each of my targets die by my hand alone, and none shall die beyond them unless necessary. I shall end their lives by steel and poison alone, never magic. I shall kill not for pleasure or revenge, but to do what has to be done. I am swift as the eagle, sharp as the wolf, and cunning as the snake. I pledge my life to the Voices of the Blade, and remember the words of those who came before me: Blodet Renner Kaldt, Blood Runs Cold"_

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><p>As son to the respected leader of the Voices, I was offered the title of "Whisperer" when I came of age at 21. But to be the master and leader of the Order meant much more than ending lives. It meant much more responsibilities than I could handle. The day I was offered it, I declined. As a compensation, Matthew the current Whisperer entitled me with the Free Blood. Offered to only the best of the best in the Order, the Free Blood meant for two weeks, I could end the life of anyone I chose, as opposed to only spilling the blood of our targets. Sort of like a free pass to kill outside our guidelines for a while. The Free Blood was given only to the best because the Whisperer could see in his eyes that my skills would be enough to hide the death as an accident, or at least pin the murder on someone else. Those were the conditions to the Free Blood.<p>

I traveled right to Arendelle that day, and discovered that my chance had come: Agdar and Idun would be leaving Arendelle for a wedding in Corona. With the skills I had spent a lifetime on, I sabotaged the ship, and left the note I had written him so long ago.

_"Agdar._

_You didn't expect me to survive what you did to me, did you? Consider us even._

_I could have been your son. You could have been my father. Truly, I hate you for the life you have left me when you forsaken me. And I hate you for what you did to my sisters. Did you know that the worst part of the mark you burnt into my hand is the physical pain? Even to this day I can still feel you clamping those hot pliers onto my hand, scarring me and showing my status to the whole world. But I survived. I was shown a world among the Voices of the Blade. A world where survival means spilling the blood of others. Ironic, isn't it? In your fear to hide your wife's bastard, the son of an assassin, in hopes that he wouldn't grow up to become what you feared he would, that boy grew up to be exactly what you feared he would. _

_I am writing this letter just after I killed my first man, and you should also know that this note has been written in his blood. I bet you have already guessed if you have seen how red the ink is._

_Whatever it is that I have done just now as you are reading this, know this as much is clear: you are dead. You will never see your precious daughters again, especially the one with the heart of ice. It should serve as an example to you that letting your fears get the better of you only ends in death and misery. You should have seen how making her conceal her feelings broke her mind. Too bad the rest of the world will only look at your death as a tragic accident, or the murder of a lunatic instead of murder by the one you left for dead. All you should know is that I spent my whole life waiting for the moment where I could hand you the fate you were so impatient to give me. Glad to know waiting paid off._

_Blodet Renner Kaldt._

_Your wife's bastard, Asgeir."_

He found the note. I know this because before the kingdom knew that the King and Queen were dead, I went down into the wreckage with a diving bell along with my brothers, and we raided the remains of the ship. The King's face showed a look of fear as he held the letter in his hands. I took the letter with me, along with the chest of precious possessions in their room. It was truly a shame that I found my mother rotting in the water alongside that fool, so my brothers and I took her back to our home, where I buried her alongside my father in the tombs beneath the Order's hideout. Conflicting emotions about her was an understatement. I hated her for letting Agdar leave me for dead, but she was still my mother.

I may be a bastard of Queen Idun, but I could never be satisfied with the death of Agdar to make up for the life that was taken from me, simply because he was afraid.

I too was afraid in that moment as Kristoff and I sped towards the kingdom, dawn approaching. The difference being that my fear was pushing me further. If I didn't end Elsa's reign, no one would. I was the only Voice with the skills needed to take her down.

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><p>Kristoff stopped the sled at the edge of a rocky cliff high on a mountainside. At the bottom lay a thick wood, and beyond that lay...<p>

"Arendelle." I said breathlessly. I couldn't see it, but I could just feel it's presence. I only had been there three times in my life. This would be the last time I would return, no doubt.

"This is as far as I can take you, Asgeir. The rest is up to you."

I bowed to Kristoff. "Thank you, Kristoff. May the Whisperers watch over you." It was our way of wishing each other luck in the Order.

Kristoff looked at me, then shrugged it off. Then he pulled a sack out from the back of the sleigh. He chucked the bag to me and I caught it.

"All I can offer you is this. I know what you can make these into, but I didn't know how to do it precisely. Maybe you can do what I couldn't with it."

I grinned as I checked the contents. "This is perfect. Crafting a couple dozen shouldn't be too much of a problem. You have my thanks, Kristoff."

Kristoff looked out through the woods. "If you find her. Dead or alive, if you find her, please make sure she's either properly buried, or see to it that she finds someplace safe." He said, referring to our mutual friend.

I stuck another rope dart into the snow on the edge of the cliff. The snow anchor, as many called it. I edged out towards the cliff.

"It will be done." I replied. And I jumped.

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><p><em>Entry # 1,845<em>

_The years have passed. Three since I left the boy to die in the woods. My first trueborn child will be born soon, and boy or girl, they will be the true ruler of Arendelle._

_I never was sure that I did the right thing leaving him out there to die. I know I did the right thing. He would've killed a servant if I didn't. I saved their lives, right? Yes I did. But I don't need to worry about him anymore. He has been dead for years, and I'll be happy with this child, boy or girl. They will be a good one for us._

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><p>Agdar thought that hiding his daughter from the public eye would ensure that her powers remain a secret. But to the Voices, nothing is secret to us. To train me in the art of stealth, my mentors invited me on many missions into the castle to find the secrets that hid behind the gates. My brothers found it anticlimactic to find the only reason why, was because of a little girl afraid of her potential. I saw it as a way to see what kind of people my half-sisters were. Elsa was a complicated girl, three years younger than me. She couldn't understand just how much danger her stupid father was putting her or everyone else in. He was pressuring her more and more as the years went by to never show emotion, or risk exposing her powers. He broke her mind, as he shattered my compassion for humanity: with his choices out of fear.<p>

When I was found, I grew up for six whole years under the guidance of the Voices, never once understanding why I had no parents. I just assumed I never had them, because most of us were handed fates like I was: abandoned, forsaken, and hated by parents who didn't want them. Others were orphans, thieves, scoundrels and more. Some of the lucky few had parents who died, and they could know that their parents at least cared for them. I found out why I had no parents when Matthew showed me the notes Father left behind for me. He, nor my brothers ever lied to me, always being up front, and showing me what I had been given: a life where the only option was kill or be killed.

Anna was one who I longed to meet. She too had been given a life to live alone because of that man. All three of us were set on lives that we didn't deserve because of his fears. I made sure he suffered when the ship was sabotaged.

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><p>One more night left. After starting the fire for my camp, I realized I was down to my last box of matches. Thirty matches remained, and I would need every one for my face off with Elsa.<p>

The contents of the bag were exactly what I needed. I spent the hour preparing them for the fight.

Before falling asleep, I made one more promise: Elsa would not kill me. If she were to freeze my heart, or impale me on an icicle, I would respond by slitting my own throat after I ensured her death. She was the last one alive who I blamed for my suffering. I, someone who never was given the chance to live the life of a royal, forced into a life of spilling blood into the dirt and snow for coin, overlooked by the one who could easily kill everyone in the room by lifting a finger. The one who sent nine tenths of the realm's people to the afterlife, and the rest into a frozen hell.

I slept uneasy that night, with visions of a woman of angelic beauty, with hair of golden white, and sharp teeth made of icicles. It made one thing clear for me: Elsa would most likely be waiting for me.

* * *

><p>The town lay to waste as I saw it from above on the low cliffs. Every building had practically decayed to pieces in the past five years. The buildings of the town looked like black misshapen teeth hanging open in the snow. Kristoff was very close in assuming that I couldn't possibly get to Arendelle. I could already feel the frostbite forming on my face as I trudged on into the town. I had already traveled far enough. I would freeze out there unless if I sought shelter for a few hours.<p>

Looking through the town, I saw all the buildings. One store's front window was shattered, letting the blizzard come in. It had buried the store in three whole feet of snow. It would not suffice for the night.

A few blocks away I found another building that seemed reasonable enough. It's window hung open, but there wasn't as much snow in it. I started over to it.

"Hey! Get over here!"

I jumped like a deer hearing a twig snap. Two ice soldiers were five feet from me, facing the opposite direction.

I dove into the shadows of the building's inside the second I realized they were calling over a buddy. While I was hidden in the shadows of the broken building, Voices take no chances getting caught unless they want to. And we rarely do.

The one who didn't call for the third one spoke up. "But seriously man, something is off with Queen Elsa."

His buddy raised his hand to what looked like his mouth. "Be quiet! Don't you know what kind of person she is now? She'd personally turn you inside out with her magic if she heard you saying that. And we all know she sees all and hears all."

"Yeah. And I'm a piece of ice. I shouldn't be alive, same as you Smith. We're all just pawns in her paranoia. Like she always is expecting someone to come kill her. When was the last time you saw someone sent to kill her? They gave up on that at least a year ago. If they kept sending people to kill her, we'd know."

"I will admit the truth there. But we can't speak these things about our Queen. She made us, and can easily take us out of the world just as easy. We're dealing with a goddess practically."

I knew that I was essentially dealing with just that as I was going in, but hearing it put to words made things different. Someone this powerful deserved to be unseated.


	5. Chapter 5:Fathers-Sons

Chapter 5: Fathers/Sons

_My son, Asgeir_

_Our brothers do these letters many times in the Order. One day you might be writing this to a child of yours, or a brother. If you are reading this, then your brothers have declared you ready to understand how your life began._

_We are the kingdom's most feared assassins, yet no one truly knows of us. We move like shadows, leaving no trace or showing any mercy in our path. All people know of us is the mysterious force that takes people from this world to the next. You were born into the Voices, as I, Daniel Swortssen, am the fourty-fifth Whisperer and your father._

_If they followed my orders correctly, your brothers told you that you have no parents, much like the rest of us. That is no lie. I am no doubt long dead when you read this. As for your mother, she is very much alive. Your mother is Queen Idun of Arendelle, and her husband is a common enemy between you and I. He was the one who killed me, and he tried to kill you too._

_You are a bastard born of a master assassin, and a queen. Idun tried to make it seem to Agdar that you were his own son, but as time went on, she became restless, and told the king. He tied you to a tree in the middle of the freezing woods to die, but not before scarring you._

_That's right. The mark on your hand was done by him. It's to mark the shame that you represent for all royals as a bastard. _

_Your brothers have given you the tools. I have given you the truth. What will you do with the rest? I hope you do what I expect you to do, and end the life of those that wish to see us wiped off the face of this world. They may be royal in title, but most of them are lower than us in what they have in their hearts. If you find yourself ever doubting that, ask your brothers how they found you in the woods when Agdar left you to die._

_Your father, Daniel_

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><p>After the ice guards left, I made my way through the town buildings. I found the remains of several families who froze to death. It's been years, but they still remain intact if they are that cold. I could feel it getting colder. A real storm was brewing up. Elsa might have known I was already there, which meant I needed to move quickly. Only one place remained that I could think of that would be important to look through.<p>

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><p>I sat in silence at the table as Matthew looked over at me. I had finished reading the letter. It was so surreal to hear.<p>

"I have sisters?" I said breathlessly.

"Two half-sisters and a mother." He said. "That's your only true living family."

"But they don't know I exist?"

"The little girls don't. Your mother thinks you're dead because of the King. Agdar left you to die, but your father left me and the others to find you. As a figurative brother, it was our responsibility to find you. We follow a code of ethics that you have been taught to use, Asgeir."

I was curious of Elsa and Anna. They sounded like nice enough girls. Why would I think differently of my only true living siblings? "How old are they?" I asked.

I was 6 by that time, just learning the ropes of my life. The stronghold which I lived in with my brothers was one built right under a ghost town far from Arendelle's kingdom town. I wanted to know what kind of people my sisters were.

Matthew shrugged, then held out a small portrait. A young girl with a blue cloak and platinum blonde hair stood smiling alongside the people that I knew were her parents. A tall man with dirty blonde hair and a mustache, and a woman with brown hair and shiny blue eyes.

"Mom..." I murmured.

In her arms she held a baby with tufts of strawberry blonde hair.

"Elsa is the blonde. She's 3. Anna is almost a year old."

I looked at the picture curiously. "I'd want to meet them."

Matthew turned the portrait over. "No, Asgeir. They have a father that would gladly see us all hanging upside down with our skin cut off for the whole world to see. He is one of the few who knows who we are. Someday you will understand why you can never be their brother. It's the choices that he made."

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><p>It took a while for me to understand. Then when I was 9, Matthew brought me and several other members on an expedition to the town.<p>

"It's been six months." Said Matthew as we rode to the town. "Six months since they locked the gates to the castle. There's something going on there, and we need to know what it is."

"Why bring me?" I said.

"You were able to sneak past Rabbit to sharpen the knives in the middle of the night. No one can get past him and his ears. You are permitted to go with us into the castle, but that's it. You're not gonna leave my sight at any time. We are there to find out why the gates shut, and nothing else."

By midday we had arrived at the castle. While Agdar had thought that it would be impossible for anyone to enter, nothing was impossible for the Voices. Rabbit was our guide. His real name was Rob, but he could hear a fly landing on a leaf three doors down from a soundproof room. Just like all of us and our titles, he wasn't just given it; he earned it.

He made sure that no one would see us, and would alert us if anyone was coming. Matthew and I made our way up into the light fixtures once we made our way in.

Two guards passed by from beneath us as we looked down.

"Think you'll get your own squad after what happened last night?" Said one.

The other one smirked. "Indeed. I believe so."

Matthew stood crouched on the light fixture. They were well built enough that they could support our weight.

I jumped carefully to the next fixture. It clinked and clicked trying to hold me up as it swung slightly. "What are we looking for?" I called over to Matthew in a hushed yell.

"Anything. Try to find why the gates have been shut. Someone might pay a fortune for that kind of information."

I looked down towards the windowsill. Rabbit had set up small bells and a rope system on the windows. He would ring one to alert us with something. He had made them himself, designed so that only those trained in our skills could hear them. The one below the sill was ringing. Three times in succession.

"Three times." I counted. "He's found something. Matthew we need to stay here." I whispered.

"I know, Asgeir. This may be our answer."

I heard laughing. It was Anna. I recognized her from the portrait as the only strawberry blonde girl in the family. She ran down the hall. She stopped at a door with blue diamonds bordering it. She laughed and knocked on it, me less than ten feet above her.

"Elsa? Do you wanna build a snowman?"

"Go away, Anna!" Was the response.

Anna looked crushed. Her face fell and she walked away. "Okay, bye..." She sighed.

Why did Rabbit send us to spy on my sisters? Why did Elsa blow off her sister like that? As I was asking the questions, Matthew jumped over to the light fixture and started working on opening the transom above the door.

"Come on, genius." He said over to me. "Something's going on in here. Something strange. I know you can see it too. Time to meet your other sister."

I jumped over behind him and we opened it slowly. I looked down towards Elsa. She was sitting on a couch in her room, staring into the fireplace.

Matthew and I took positions on the high bookshelves. We studied the bookshelves used by royal families to determine what could break them. The ones that Agdar used to furnish the castle were meant to hold up the thickest of books, and the shelves we stood on now had no books.

Elsa looked as though she had been crying. But what was strange was that her tears were shining. Too brightly for water. Almost as if it was...

"Ice..." breathed Matthew. "She cries ice…."

The door opened and I saw Agdar walk in. He still had the auburn hair and mustache, but there was a couple spots of gray in it. He held a bundle in his hands.

"Father." Said Elsa, bowing her head.

"Please remember not to cry, Elsa. You know what will happen if you do."

"I can't help it." She said, her lips trembling. "I miss her..." She started crying more, but I was more interested in what was going on around her.

The entire room around us was freezing. The fire was snuffing out in the fireplace and Agdar was backing away from her, a look of complete fear covering his face. He called for Elsa to stop, before stamping his foot and yelling at her.

"Elsa, as your father I order you to stop crying!"

Elsa looked up at her father, and silenced herself, whimpering. The ice almost seemed to calm down as she did.

"Good." Said her father. "Now, I have something that may help."

He opened the bundle to show her. Two snow white gloves. He beckoned Elsa to come over. She did as she was told, and he slipped them onto her hands.

"The gloves will help."

He touched her covered hand, no ice on it. He smiled the most faux expression ever to her.

"See? Conceal it..."

Elsa nodded solemnly. "Don't feel it."

"Don't let it show..." They said in unison.

The door opened to an older lady wearing a servant's uniform.

"Now I suggest you go downstairs for supper. I need to speak to Gerda."

Elsa left as Gerda entered. They both greeted each other with nothing more than two words. Gerda closed the door behind her as Elsa left. She surveyed the room and the ice that coated the walls. She almost saw us, but looked back at Agdar just in time.

"Your Highness. How far must we take this? Elsa needs help. You can't just shut her up like this. What if Anna sees this? Or worse, someone from the outside?"

"Enough, Gerda." Snapped Agdar. "That will not happen. Elsa can learn to control her powers. I know she can."

"With all due respect, Your Highness, you can't make a habit of sweeping problems like this under the rug. It doesn't work like that."

"Is it just me, or are you not referring to my daughter?" Said Agdar, glaring at her.

"I am not. I'm referring to the boy."

"SILENCE!" Yelled Agdar. "He was not my son. And you agreed that he was stillborn. We agreed to that, did we not?"

Gerda whimpered much like Elsa. "You never knew for sure that he would be a danger. But Elsa is a real danger to everyone and herself. Please just listen to me and admit that you are wrong."

Agdar waited one second, then struck Gerda in the face. "Never forget who you are working for, Gerda. I am king, and I am always right. I was right to leave that little bastard to die, and I am right in this. Elsa can control her powers, and I know it."

I had seen enough. I jumped with the lightest step over to the transom, Matthew following behind. We both jumped down into the hallway, then out the window. The window led out into the bay, and we met a thirty foot drop into the water below.

I shook my head, shaking the water off it. Matthew scowled as we tread water.

"That's it?! The princess has ice magic?! I expected something bigger!"

I was focused too much on the king and what he was. "Bigger how?" I said absentmindedly.

Matthew shook his head. "I don't know. Something. C'mon, Asgeir. We need to meet up at the rendezvous point."

I kept seeing that image flashing in my mind. That man tried to kill me when I was only a newborn. He didn't even show regret for it. He just did it to me without thinking.

We met up at the rendezvous point, Rabbit winding up the strings on the bells. Jason and Desmond were going over notes that they had taken while in there, and Marcus was drying off.

"You saw what I heard?" Said Rabbit.

"I want to hear what you guys got first. Rabbit obviously heard everything, so we're gonna skip him. Jason and Desmond?"

Desmond went first. "As far as I can tell, staff has been reduced to a third it used to be in the last couple months. I barely got a glimpse of any of the royals before Rabbit had to pull me out of there. I nearly got caught."

Jason shrugged. "Same here. I also noticed every window had massive locks on the outside. It'd be easier to raid their fortunes in their vaults than take anything in here. What are they locking up in there?"

"The girl." said Matthew. "She has some kind of ice magic. All this time and they're locking up an innocent girl. Seems like we just wasted our time here."

I didn't see things that way. I had just seen what I never had the chance to see for years. My almost father, an evil coward. The one who left me to die because of my potential threat, kept his own daughter despite the fact that she was a real danger.

"Asgeir!" Called Jason. "Are you coming?"

I looked up. The rest of them were already on their getaway horses, waiting for me. I climbed up and didn't look back as we rode away.

* * *

><p>Elsa wasn't at the castle, that was for certain. But Anna might be if she was still alive. I had made a promise to Kristoff to get her out of this alive if I could. I trudged on through the snow, feeling the cold around me. I was ice cold, despite the fact that I was bundled heavily over my armor and weapons. Eventually I would need to take the winter clothes off so I could reach my weapons.<p>

The castle felt what I last expected it to be when I got inside: warm. I pulled off my winter cloak, and set it in my satchel as I looked around. The castle was so large, almost all the rest of the survivors could possibly stay in there. Why couldn't it be so easy for this to happen? The richest had to live with luxury, and people like me died every day out of starvation, dehydration, and so many other problems.

I figured if I'd find anything, it would be in the throne room. I bounded up the stairs, and flung open the doors, closing them behind me. I looked down the hall, wondering if the mind games had already began.

The entire throne room was covered in ice, yet I felt as warm as I possibly could. Even though I had thrown off my thick coat down at the entrance. I walked slowly down the paper white room, stopping when I saw her.

What looked like a statue of ice turned out to be so much more when I looked at it. The statue had two braids over her shoulders, and was clutching herself as though she was as cold as the rest of us. It almost looked like if she really could, she would be crying.

"Hello, Anna." I said, looking into her frozen eyes. Dead, much like her sister's good hearted side. As I looked into her frozen tearful eyes, I saw what had really driven me here. It started with a burning desire for revenge and blood. But it changed in that instant. It wouldn't be what Anna would want for me if she had known me. But she also wouldn't want anyone else to be hurt by the person that her sister became.

I knelt down beside her, tears starting to form. It was something about the sadness in Anna's frozen eyes that hurt me deeper than I had ever felt.

"I promise I will make this right. I promised to Kristoff, and I promise to you. You loved Elsa, and I can respect that. But there are some things that can only end, and find resolution in blood and tears. I must kill Elsa to let you finally be put to rest, and for this realm to breathe."

A large sound shook the entire castle as I was starting to head back out. I opened the door a crack, and looked out into the entrance hall down below the balcony.

She was once a beautiful girl. Her beauty reflected on the kindness she had for people, but it changed when her mind cracked. Her hair was pure white as opposed to the light blonde it used to be, and it reached down to her waist in a tangled mess, instead of a braid, bedraggled, like a vengeful angel.

Her face showed a story very similar. Her lips as blue as a frozen lake on a clear day, and her eyes like razor sharp sapphires cut into knives. Her skin was whiter than that of a vampire's, and she looked almost like a ghost of her former self.

Her white one shouldered dress showed a long flowing cape that dragged behind her a good twenty feet, and her sleeves were encrusted with icicles to serve as makeshift daggers.

"She's paranoid of people like me. So she really is expecting me." I thought to myself.

A crown of icicles sat on her tangled mess of hair, crooked and bent. Several of the icicles were even shattered.

Two soldiers made of ice flanked her as she entered the palace.

"It's too damn warm in here!" She shrieked. Her voice was shrill, and nothing like the warm voice I had once heard from her before. Her mind was shattered like the love she once had for other humans.

"Your Majesty, perhaps someone put more logs on the fire? Or maybe you did? You have been trying to unfreeze the princess for some time, now."

Elsa looked at the guard as though she was about to strike him, then nodded. "Indeed. You may be right. In any case, you know what you need to do, Smith."

The ice soldier bowed with his hand over his chest. "At once, your Majesty. We are to leave you alone with your sister."

Elsa sneered. "Yes. And you are not to disturb me, or move from this spot until I leave from the room. I sense something is wrong." She snapped.

She turned towards the stairs, and started up them. She surely walked like a Queen, I had to admit. But I knew that if she saw me in the throne room, the element of surprise would be gone as quick as the lives I took from many. I tossed a rope dart up into the rafters, and pulled myself up. I climbed up into the beams just as Elsa entered the room.

"Hello, Anna." She said, sweetly. "How are you doing today?"

I looked down as Elsa glided across the throne room to Anna. Of course, she didn't move. The pale blue girl stood perfectly still. Elsa frowned at her, as though this never happened before.

"I don't know what you are playing at, but I swear, you are running out of time. Say something to me before I really lose my temper! You don't want that, do you?"

Someone this insane? I would gladly shove a blade in between her ribs. This would be a challenge, and a fun one at that.

Elsa spent (yes you are reading this right) a good four hours talking to Anna. Most of it was angry babbling I didn't understand, her just trying over and over to get Anna to move. At one point she screamed so loudly that icicles formed all over the room. One nearly impaled me up in the rafters. I moved out of the way just in time.

When she finished screeching, Elsa then looked around the room, still talking to Anna.

"Something is different, right? I can feel something about this place that feels off."

Please, please, please. I couldn't let her take away my element of surprise. She already sensed I was here. What gave her the right to take even more from me?

Elsa stared over at Anna, then turned and walked out of the throne room. I heard her say something to a few of the guards, then they came into the room. Two of them lifted Anna up, and carried her away.

I understood why. Because Elsa could feel my presence here, she needed Anna close to her at all times.

The front door wasn't the way out anymore. Elsa could have her guards posted there, leaving me vulnerable. But the rafters led to an opening into another room. I pattered across the beams until I entered the room. It was the royal master bedroom.

I could easily tell by the way it was built out that it was the master bedroom. But Elsa never used it. It didn't mean that ice wasn't covering every surface in the room. I jumped down and landed on the bed. Then I got off.

Elsa could tell I was there. She didn't know who I was, or that I had my chance to kill her. Anyone else in the Order would take the chance instantly and loose an arrow right through her skull, but not me. I would make Elsa suffer, and a swift kill would prevent that. I wanted to watch her look in despair as her life left her eyes. But more than anything, I wanted to enjoy this kill. This would break my vows, but death excuses us from it, and I knew I would die.

Running over to a window, I looked out at an amazing sight.

Elsa was getting into a carriage with horses. Might sound typical for royalty, but what made it such a sight was-you guessed it- it was all made of ice. The ice guards were just closing the coffin with Anna in it on a carriage.

Elsa closed the carriage door behind her and it rode off.

At least a dozen guards were stationed out in the courtyard, waiting for anything after hearing Elsa's warning. I knew that the one thing that would catch them off guard would be an attack from behind. I drew my bow out, and nocked an arrow ready.


	6. Chapter 6:Elsa-Ice Queen

Chapter 6: Elsa/Ice Queen

I opened the sack Kristoff gave me as the campfire burned. I found the one thing I needed to kill Elsa: salt.

Rock salt was something that became a need in this world if people stayed in one spot. I was one of the few people to see that it acted like acid to the snow monsters. One slash across their chest with a shard of salt, and they would die instantly. But that wasn't all Kristoff left me.

What also came in the bag was gunpowder and shell casings. He wanted me to make bombs against these monsters. Bombs that would launch salt in every possible direction.

In the Order, I was the first one to figure out how to fit a bomb into the tip of an arrow. A few hours later and I was set.

* * *

><p>"This one's for you, Father." I said, loosening my grip on the arrow.<p>

A light "twing" sound came off the bow as the arrow slashed through the air and hit one of the guards.

Instantly the shell casing caved in, lighting the gunpowder. A bang pierced the air launching giant shards of salt in every direction. Every guard in the courtyard dropped, screaming in pain. The steam hissed off them as the salt burned away their icy flesh.

One arrow was used up. I had only twenty-three more.

I jumped down to the courtyard, and ran across to one of the dying ice guards. He was still moaning in pain and I knew I didn't have much time.

"Assas-" He tried to call before I covered what I thought was his mouth; he didn't have one. Only a solid block of ice with some facial features made his face.

"Shut up! You're going to find redemption here, Frosty. I can tell not all of you follow your queen out of loyalty. Let's hope you're one of the lucky few. Tell me where the Ice Queen is, and I can stop your suffering."

The ice guard nodded as hard as he could through his pain.

"Now I'm going to lift my hand from your mouth at the count of three. And you're going to tell me where 'Her Majesty' is going. One...two...three."

The ice guard gasped for air and spoke as fast as he could, whimpering. "She's going to her fortress! It's at the peak of the North Mountain!"

"Thanks. Your death won't be in vain."

The guard was about to protest before I jammed my blade right through his head. I rushed out of the courtyard.

I looked out on the bridge connecting the castle to the town. Elsa's carriage was just going out of sight into the woods. I looked up into the mountains towards her destination, and ultimately mine.

* * *

><p>I was there when the First Snow hit. Arendelle, the day where the world went to the frozen hell. When we are declared of age, the Voices are allowed out into the world to complete contracts. Sometimes members in the Order stay behind in the hideout to help lead, or because they found better places there. I went out because the life of an assassin was the only one for me. Matthew protested me going to Arendelle when I left, but the guidelines of the order stated that I was no longer under his command. The Whisperer could tell me where to go for jobs, but he couldn't tell me where not to go.<p>

"Don't put yourself through this, Asgeir." He had said. "It'll only put you through unnecessary pain and suffering."

"I live through it every day." I replied. "Going there won't ease it, and it won't salt my wounds. But I'm not there as a bastard. I'm there as a brother."

I arrived in Arendelle only right after the coronation ceremony began. It went off with no disturbances, but I could see something in Elsa's eyes. Something familiar.

Right afterwards there was the reception. People laughed, ate, drank, danced, and generally enjoyed themselves. I found myself off to the side avoiding the crowd. I was a wolf in sheep's clothing there. I bet none of these people had even seen someone else's blood. They were part of another world altogether.

Anna was there alongside her sister. At one point I got the chance to greet her.

"My lady." I bowed, twirling my hand towards her.

Anna laughed and curtsied in return. "Your name, sir?"

"Asgeir." I replied. "Just Asgeir."

Swortssen still was a name connected to the mysterious assassin. No way was I going to tell the only innocent girl I knew that I spilt blood for life and gold.

Anna smiled. "It's a pleasure, Asgeir."

Later I was by the tables getting another drink. Anna was running up to her sister with a man. I didn't get a good look at him because I was focused on Elsa.

Again, I kept seeing this look in her eyes that looked strangely familiar. Then I realized what it was. Like father like daughter.

Anna announced that she was engaged to the man, Prince Hans, who she knew for only seven hours. I looked over, but Anna was standing in front of him from my view across the hall. I knew what he was really here for. His schemes were not unheard of in the underworld: He was there for the crown, not Anna's heart. Or maybe he was there for Anna's heart, but only to break it.

"Anna what do you know about true love?" Scoffed Elsa.

Anna frowned. "More than you. All you know is how to shut people out!"

Elsa looked at Anna with such a piercing gaze. "You asked for my blessing, but my answer is no." She started towards the door, right to me.

Hans, still obstructed by Anna, reached for Elsa "Your Majesty, if I may-"

"No you may not!" Snapped Elsa. "I think you should go." She glanced to a guard. "The party's over. Close the gates."

He muttered his affirmative as Elsa started towards the door. And me.

Anna wasn't having that. She darted towards Elsa and snatched her glove off her hand.

"Elsa please! I can't live like this anymore!" She cried.

It was enough to make me cry, the tears in her eyes. But Elsa glared at Anna.

"Then leave." She said halfhearted, as if she was telling a common stable boy to piss off.

Elsa started again for the door. I just caught a glimpse of her face. One look and I reached into my cloak. One of Hans' personal guard was standing close to me at the table. I recognized his sigil on his sleeve.

"I'd get that sword ready, sir." I murmured.

He looked at me with confusion as Anna cried out to Elsa again.

"What did I ever do to you?!" She said.

Elsa's expression got madder and madder with every step she took towards the door.

"Enough, Anna." She said. Her tone sounded more like a angry warning than a simple request.

Anna wouldn't back down, even though her true sister died less than two minutes ago. "No! Why do you hate me so much?! Why do you shut me out?! The world out?! What are you so afraid of?!"

"Take cover." I said simply as I jumped out of the way.

Elsa screeched loudly with anger. The room started freezing all over. People jumped and started running as the ice blanketed the walls and floors. I jumped behind one of the tables, pulling my sword out. Anna just looked at Elsa, frozen to her spot.

"Elsa..." She breathed.

Elsa scowled and ran off. I didn't have the chance to stop her before Anna ran right after her.

The people around the room were now trying to force windows open to escape, never daring to try the door. I groaned at their stupidity, none of them realizing the windows were not going to open. They were frozen shut.

I saw one person was stuck under the table, his leg caught underneath it. The leg was likely broken, but he stared at me, pleading for help.

Elsa was out there, and I knew that I only had a few minutes before I would run the risk of my own life. I saw my choice ahead. Stay to help and save them, or escape and save myself.

Not all of these people were nobles or royals, but none of them knew how easy they had it. I had to be looking out for me, and only me. Cowardly to run? Not this time. I was only playing it smart.

Elsa ran into the mountains, the summer fading behind her, and from existence. Anna never gave anyone else the chance to try to stop her from going after her. She was still convinced that her sister was still alive, and ran off. I ran out of the castle leaving the others behind and watched as she rode off into the night. I went off in another direction, never to return to Arendelle intentionally. Or so I thought.

* * *

><p>The cold I felt climbing the mountains was thousandfold worse than what I felt in previous years. My frostbite got much worse, and it took my iron will to keep myself from giving up. There was only one thing that kept me going. It was those painful memories of seeing Elsa cry for her sister, and Anna wanting hers back. It was the cruelest fate to see a man singlehandedly break a girl's mind, a sisterhood apart, and my compassion for humanity. I saw the fortress loom from above as the climb began wrapping up, and I realized what I was doing. I wasn't killing Elsa. I was killing two people in her mind simultaneously: her father, his influence still stuck to her emotions like a shroud, and the Ice Queen, her hatred for humanity.<p>

* * *

><p>Matthew was a great Whisperer of the Order. Despite his age of about nine years senior to me, he was almost like a real brother to me. The younger sibling usually seeks the approval and acceptance from their older sibling. Matthew always showed me that I never needed that from him. He and I both had deep respect for each other. He was brought into the Order by my father after his own parents sold him away.<p>

"They were too poor to have a child." He said one night over drinks in the hideout's tavern. "So they gave me up to a slave trader for a fair sum of gold right after I was born."

"What happened afterwards?"

"This slave trader made all the wrong friends. His closest adviser was your father, who was working on the inside. He killed him and freed us when I was five. He gave us a choice: run free and live our own lives, or follow him and live meaningful lives."

"Meaningful?" I replied.

"We end the lives of those too far gone or evil to walk this earth anymore. That's meaningful when you think about it. We thin the herd by cutting out the black sheep. Seventeen of us saw that, and we followed him."

"Your parents? What happened to them."

Matthew scoffed. "I lost the opportunity to do what you had done to Agdar. Daniel killed them both when they sold another child to another trader. They were selling every child they had for coin. People like that deserve the fate that we place on them."

I nodded. "I know. I also know that even if I wasn't reminded of this seven-hundred times a day, I would still believe this. We're all outcasts from society who have been sharpened into necessary evil."

"Indeed." Said Matthew. "But there can be some good from us as well. You'll see what I mean one day."

* * *

><p>The castle loomed over me with it's towering paper white walls and it's massive turrets. No door was at the front, for obvious reasons: her paranoia. Only one way to go in myself.<p>

I nocked an explosive salt arrow, and drew it back. Wasting an arrow like this might be worth it, or not. I would have no choice but to do it.

Suddenly the wall burst open as eight ice soldiers rushed out. They yelled out and pointed their swords and axes at me. I narrowed my eyes at them, daring to make the first move.

"Stand down by order of Queen Elsa." Said one.

I smirked. "Your queen can kindly kiss my-"

One of the soldiers wasn't in the mood for wise arses. He swung his axe too quickly at me, that he missed under the weight of it. He tried to pull it out of the ground as I head butted him and drew my swords.

"Okay boys. Let's just chill!" I snarked.

Another one groaned. "Can I take his tongue out just for saying that, sir?"

The one that looked like their leader shook his head. "You know the rules. All outsiders are to be dealt with by Her Majesty herself. We bring him to her in one piece."

I looked at the leader. "Um, hello! I'm right here! I think I get a say in this!"

I leapt right over and slashed my swords right through his torso, cutting him clean in half. The others looked at me, I imagine, with the most appalled expressions ever. Then they all came after me.

It was chaos as I jumped, ducked, hacked, smashed, and cut my way through each and every one of them. One of them was able to hurt me; He got me right in the arm with his icicle sword.

"You are lost, boy." He exclaimed. "If you can be wounded by one of us, what hope do you have of surviving Queen Elsa's wrath."

I yanked the icicle out of my arm, then stuck it right through the soldier's neck.

"I never said 'survive'" I said.

The rest of the soldiers knew what was good for them. They ran off, hoping to use whatever time they had left. I ignored them and started into the fortress.

The walls of the fortress were misshapen and cracked. Almost like the mind of the Queen herself. The walls also showed off several passages that opened several times to more soldiers, almost like dispensers. I dispatched them with ease.

It was a dark maze as I ventured in, with only a torch made of a bone from one of Elsa's victims, and his burning cloak.

I saw the doors ahead. They looked to be the only beautifully made things in this castle. The Rosemaling carved on them was what stood out. Instead of flowers, there were snowflakes encompassing the curving lines.

They were barred, no doubt. Elsa may have known I was there for a long time, but it didn't matter. In her eyes, she wasn't dying today.

I pulled out one of the bombs. It was the only one I didn't fit into the tip of an arrow. I struck a match, and closed my eyes.

"Watch over me Father. Watch over me and guide me."

BANG! As soon as the bomb hit, the wall blasted apart. I sprinted in, stopping suddenly and sliding on the ice.

"Welcome, Assassin. Are you ready to die?"

I drew my blade. "For five years."


	7. Chapter 7:Ice-Steel

**A/N: This is without a doubt the darkest fic I have ever wrote, but I hope that you enjoyed it. Contrary to whatever messages one may pick up from this, I actually enjoyed Frozen very much, and have something else planned that is coming very soon. Thanks for reading**

Chapter 7: Ice/Steel

Elsa sat on what I assumed was a throne, but it was a strange looking one. One made of a giant mountain of icicles. She sat at the top, towering above the room, looking down on me.

"I knew you were here ever since you entered my domain. It was with him, right? That ice seller? Kristoff?"

"Yeah." I replied. "That's right."

"You came within inches of killing my sister. Do you realize what that would have meant for you?"

"An icicle to the throat, no doubt. But it's not like I'm going to receive a different fate right now."

Elsa started down the stairs to her throne. "You seem familiar. Have we met before?"

"Indeed. I was there at your coronation. Decided to run and save my own arse instead of saving those sorry lives of the nobles. Those who can't look out for themselves aren't worth saving."

Elsa looked at me closer as she kept descending the steps. Her waist length hair was snow white, and tangled, just as before. I remembered how she once looked very beautiful, but that was when she was still alive.

"No...It's somewhere else I know you from. You and I have met somewhere else before."

I nodded. "I saw you. I saw you, the princess as a young girl. How you were locked up by a horrible father for possessing powers you never wanted."

"On the contrary. My magic has given me new light into a dark world. This world has awaited punishment for it's darkness. You of all people know what darkness is, assassin."

I nodded. "Yes. I do. I've seen the darkness. I saw a man hope for a daughter, and instead get a son. Then the man discovered that his wife's son wasn't even his. And then that same man left the infant boy out in the snow to die. That was me."

"Impressive." Scoffed Elsa. "You survived a snowstorm on your own? I am a goddess of snow. It would never bother me, let alone hurt me."

"Want to know the puzzling bit?" I said. "After I spent years pondering the question as to why my own mother, who I thought loved me, would leave me behind, I saw that her second child was so dangerous, she could freeze an entire room just by lifting a finger."

Elsa stopped, looking thunderstruck as I continued.

"And her father, the man who left me to die because of the potential threat I posed, kept her, the real monster, in his home simply because he was a blind tyrant of a man."

Elsa stared at me. "You're my brother?"

I bowed my head. "You take the news well. Better than I would expect."

"No." Said Elsa. "I now have a potential ally."

She reached her hand out. "You don't have to kill me, brother." She said. "Only take my hand, and you can be a king."

I stared hard at her. It was no debate. I would not see this world die if I was king of the remains. This wasn't for my satisfaction, or the salvation of this world. This was to finally put Anna at peace, and for her to leave behind her frozen state. I could feel her behind me as I drew my other blade. This was what I really came here for.

"I am Asgeir Swortssen. Son of Daniel Swortssen, the forty-fifth Whisperer, and Queen Idun, the last fair queen of Arendelle. I made a promise that I intend to keep to my half-sister. Today, Queen Elsa, you die!"

Elsa leapt off the steps and landed firmly onto the ground. She waved her hand, and a long sword of ice formed right in it.

"Brave words, bastard. But you have come here on a fool's errand. You are just a commoner. I? I control what lies all around you. You handed me your soul the second you stepped foot into my kingdom."

I twirled both my blades in my hands. "It doesn't mean I can't take you with me."

Elsa took her white cloak of snowflakes and tossed it down. I did the same for my own cloak, as for it not to get in the way. Then I raised my hood. Time to end this.

* * *

><p>Elsa was the first to strike. She came in fast and low. I leapt up and flipped, slashing downwards.<p>

Elsa threw her hand forward, and I jumped out of the way to a blast of snow.

I took off, sprinting across the room, and dove onto the floor. The ice's slick surface gave me just the right amount of speed to swipe my sword right across the back of Elsa's leg. She shrieked in pain as I got back up.

"What's the matter, Elsa? Can't take a hit? Oh, that's right. You weren't facing death like I was. While I was getting a sword to the foot for a failed execution of a traitor, you were learning how to stand up straight and drink your earl grey."

"Shut up!" Growled Elsa.

I earned one name in the Order for what I could do, much like how Rabbit earned his name: the Silver-Tongue. Fill in the blanks and find out why I got that name.

Elsa lunged again at me, clashing with my blade. Ice against steel wouldn't normally stand a chance, but Elsa's icicle sword was enchanted; It was just as strong as my own. It became a tug of war with both of us trying to best the other.

"C'mon, Asgeir. You call yourself an assassin? You should have killed me when you had the chance, five years ago."

Elsa fell back as I won the clash. I felt my blade just barely slide across her cheek.

"Yeah. The Order asks us to do this: kill our targets when we get the first chance. But I haven't seen them for years. Most of them have died because of you. Snow monsters, freezing to death, bandits, other assassins, but most of them died by your hand. I waited because of this. I will gladly enjoy the chance I have to watch you in a pool of your own...blood..."

As I talked, I noticed her cheek. The wound on it wasn't red: it was ice blue.

I grinned. "Heh. Well, what do you know? You have no 'heart of gold' you have one cold heart of ice."

How else would she be bleeding blood like that?

Elsa wiped her hand over her wound, looked at the blood on her hand, then snarled and slashed for me again. The flurry of attacks she nailed on me, one after the other, were so intense, I barely deflected each one. I wasn't worried. I could beat her. But then came the snag in the plan.

Elsa, as she clashed with me again, reached under my blade with her free hand, and touched me in the chest directly.

I was suddenly blasted backwards with incredible force. I felt my chest get colder than I ever felt before. I nodded as I saw my reflection in the ice floor below: my hair was slowly turning white.

"Well, well." I murmured. "Now I got another reason to gut you: I'm out of time."

Time to improvise. The throne room was no place to kill Elsa. And I knew just where to do this properly. There was only one place I would find her. I drew my bow quickly and shot a salt arrow down on the floor between Elsa and me.

She screeched as the salt blew up in multiple directions, a couple hitting her directly. I saw them almost burn her skin like acid. I was right: she was no more than ice herself now. I could kill her like that, but my vows said I kill my targets with steel, not salt. So I did the only thing I had left.

I sprinted off, feeling the ice spread across my body. I could hear my heartbeat as I ran through to the next rooms. Every beat kept telling me I was still alive.

* * *

><p>The fortress was a true labyrinth of ice and snow. The jagged edges and misshapen halls made it dangerous to even try to sprint in here. But I knew that the throne room wouldn't be where I needed to take Elsa's life. I knew exactly where it needed to happen. And even though the fortress was so hard to navigate, I could almost feel where I needed to go. I could almost see Anna's spirit guide me through it.<p>

At last, at the top of the central tower, I found it. The room where Anna was being kept. It was a large hall, with the rafters needed to support the weight of the tower. Surprisingly, Elsa's ice could hold up the intense weight of more ice.

I threw my blade dart up and used it's retracting mechanism to launch myself up into the rafters. Elsa practically smashed open the doors just as I was up there.

She knew I was up there, but didn't understand why. I could sense her confusion because she wasn't blasting her magic right up at me. Instead, she just looked up into the rafters.

"Come to kill both sisters, Asgeir? Rid your only living family left?"

"My father is dead because yours couldn't be satisfied with leaving me for dead."

"Big deal. He had his reasons. I heard your own father killed those who even thought of turning their back on him. He was paranoid."

"So was your father. I'm glad I put him out of his misery. When I was granted Free Blood, I did what had to be done to end his miserable reign on Arendelle, and over both your lives."

Elsa collapsed to the floor, covering her ears. I could hear her say over and over "lies, lies, lies."

"Our mother died without suffering. She is now buried beside my father. The grave beside your father? Empty. We got to the wreck first."

"Lies, lies, lies..."

"Anna, on the other hand, is suffering every day. I can see her misery as she tried desperately to warm herself up from her frozen heart. That you made."

"LIES, LIES, LIES!" She was now screaming. But she could hear the last thing I had to say. Every. Last. Word.

"Poor, poor Elsa. Her heart is made of ice. And all it took was her dead sister to crack her apart!"

Elsa shrieked out and blasted her magic up into the rafters. I felt them collapse beneath me, and I slammed my blade into the wall to break my fall. The blade slowed me down as I fell towards the ground, leaving behind a huge slash mark in the wall.

"You are not my brother, Asgeir." She breathed. "You're a bastard assassin, and I will make sure your remains are tossed over the balcony."

Elsa lunged for me, and pinned my throat against the wall. I could feel the ice intensify within me.

"Give my best to your father." She murmured.

Almost as quick as a blink, Elsa's expression changed. She suddenly looked scared and fearful. She let go of me.

"Please stop!" She cried.

I looked up at her as she thrashed around. What was wrong with her?

"Please stop me! I've had enough! I never wanted to hurt you, or Anna. No one! But she made me!"

I understood. I picked my blade up off the ground.

"I'm sorry, Elsa." I said.

Her expression went back to savage. "No!" She cried. She grabbed the blade in her hands just as I jabbed it in her direction.

The steel sliced through her hands, spraying thick blue blood everywhere. I could feel it's coldness on my face as I put my hand up to Elsa's neck. The pain from the wounds on her hands was too much for Elsa to stop me. I gripped my blade tight, and then I pushed it through her ribs.

* * *

><p>Elsa fell back, the blood pouring out, her face drenched with it. She looked up at me with savagery.<p>

"You!" She snarled. "You did this to me! You killed me!"

I did my best to show no mercy in my eyes, but truth be told, I could see myself ending two sisters' sufferings now. Not just one.

"Why do this to me if you weren't planning on walking out alive?" She groaned weakly.

"Because now it's not about vengeance. It's not about justice. It's not even about redemption. It's about ending the suffering of others. Those who couldn't go on in this world. I know I wanted to kill you for what your family did to me. But now I see that the only one who felt pain more than me, were both you and Anna. I give you the peace you both needed so desperately."

Elsa- no. The Ice Queen-coughed up blood. "Damn you, Asgeir. Damn you to hell."

I didn't blink to that statement. "Hell is the least I deserve."

I watched as the last traces of life from this lady of ice melted away.

"The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive. For that, I forgive you, Elsa. Blodet Renner Kaldt."

* * *

><p>Anna stood there, still in her frozen state. I heard only words written by the trolls who died from this winter that an "act of true love" could thaw her heart. Killing Elsa wouldn't do that, I knew. But part of me wished that I did. Especially since now I knew I was doing all this for those girls, the only family I had left.<p>

The ice in my heart was almost done. Soon I'd be joining Anna, if I didn't act quick. I pulled out the package to Anna, and set it on the ground at her feet.

It was my journal explaining my own story up to when I was about to enter the fortress, and a note to Anna telling her what I wanted to say to her for so long.

_Anna,_

_We never got a chance to meet properly. Let me be the first to introduce myself. My name is Asgeir. You may remember meeting me so long ago at Elsa's coronation. That was five years ago. A lot has changed, but some things that will seem very different to you have been around since you were born._

_You father kept secrets from you. Six years before you were born, he left a boy out in the woods to die. This was because your mother had a bastard son, and he was the son of an assassin. That boy was me, which made me your brother. (Half brother, technically)_

_I am so sorry we could never meet properly. I knew the three of us, you, me and Elsa would've been best friends, as well as siblings. If not for your father. I saw the true side of him as a kid, truly a terrible and miserable man. But just because the three of us never had the chance to really be true friends, doesn't mean that you don't have a chance. Kristoff is out there, waiting for you. Go be with him, and live well._

_With love and luck, your brother, Asgeir._

* * *

><p>The tower had a balcony that overlooked the whole mountain range of Arendelle. The dark sky still showed the white frosted mountains with no light. I stumbled over to the balcony, the ice in my heart hurting me even more. I had minutes at best. It was time to do myself in and prevent the ice from freezing my heart, if I was to do it at all. I'd rather die than freeze.<p>

But something was stopping me. As if I had to wait for the right moment. What was I waiting for? I couldn't tell because it was hard to think. The light from the sunrise hurt my-a sunrise?!

I looked up in surprise to the mountain horizon. There was the sun, clear as ice, rising up for the whole world to see. It was bright, and warm. There was something about it, maybe ending the Ice Queen's reign, that made the sun suddenly be able to come out.

The winter wasn't over by a long shot. But the sun was going to do what it could, and thaw this winter.

Knowing what I had just saw, I grabbed my blade.

"My name is Asgeir Swortssen. My blood now runs cold..."

I slid my blade over my neck, smiling.

* * *

><p>The sky seemed to grow lighter as I felt my life slip away. And then I just let go. I expected to see darkness, but instead I saw light everywhere around me.<p>

"Asgeir." Said a soft voice.

I then felt that I was still conscious. The blue blood from Elsa, and the red blood from my throat hadn't disappeared. I was still battered and beaten from this battle, with a couple patches of white hair.

I stood up, holding my neck. No pain seemed to come from the wound, even though I expected as much.

I still heard the voice calling for my name. "Asgeir..."

"Yes?" I said. I looked around.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I darted around to look at the person behind me.

It was a girl. She looked a few years younger than me, and had very light blonde hair tied in a French braid over her shoulder. Her dress was a light blue that seemed to sparkle in the light. Her eyes were just as blue, but they were friendly. Almost warm. A long cape of snowflakes trailed behind her. I knew exactly who she was, even though she looked nothing like the monster I had killed.

"Elsa."

She smiled, and nodded. "Yes. Thank you."

"For what?" I said. "I shoved a blade through your chest. You have nothing to thank me for."

"I beg to differ. My mind, it was broken. All those years of bottling up emotions? They were too much for me. There was a point where my mind just...cracked, like you said. The years of abuse from my father was too much for me. The Ice Queen side of me seemed to take over, and there wasn't anything I could do. It split my mind into two sides, and for years, I was just the Ice Queen, and never truly myself."

She jumped and hugged me. "I didn't want to die, but I also know that I caused too much pain and suffering to allow this to carry on any longer."

She seemed to look off into space as she pulled away from me.

"Anna...?" I said.

"You did it Asgeir. It may not have been a good act of true love, but it was enough for Anna to be unfrozen. She's safe. She found the bag you left her, and she will know your story. She'll find Kristoff. This winter will melt away before too long. People will finally be able to move on after the worst of them move on to find a life among outlaws."

I sighed deeply. "Thank heaven."

Elsa looked out to the light again. She looked so different compared to the Ice Queen I fought to kill in my last hours. She looked peaceful. Like her only purpose was to be a good queen.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Limbo." She replied. "We make our last choice here: Where do we go on from here? Do we move on? Which direction if we do?"

I bowed my head. "It's down for me. I spilled too much blood to be allowed my happy ending. I'm a villain, and a bastard. I don't get a happy ending."

Elsa placed her hands on my shoulders. I felt a slight chill, but it was of reassurance from her. "But you did what you did to me because you couldn't see Anna suffer anymore. The door is open for you. You didn't kill me out of vengeance or pleasure. You killed me because you knew it was what you had to do."

"And you? What about you?"

Elsa shook her head. "Someone with my broken mind? I don't think so. You've earned the happy ending. Not me."

I frowned. Then I grabbed Elsa by the hand. "Only one way to find out for sure."

Elsa and I both smiled as we walked off, hand in hand, half-brother and half-sister, onwards towards what lay ahead.

* * *

><p>He was born to a queen, and an assassin. A bastard with disgrace. Left for dead by the husband of his mother. He forged a life in blood and steel. But he found what some of us never do in our lives: redemption. Long live Asgeir, killer of a king. Long live Asgeir, slayer of a goddess. Long live Asgeir, the savior of the realm.<p> 


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